


Night Changes

by moosetifying



Category: The Dresden Files - All Media Types, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Little Spoon Harry, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6735760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moosetifying/pseuds/moosetifying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first three nights spent in each other's bed. (And one morning.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Changes

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this to get myself through this hellish semester, hence the shameless fluff. School got in the way so it ended up taking much longer than I thought to get it done. This is set sometime in the hazy time period after Skin Games so just...roll with it. 
> 
> Title is from the One Direction song of the same title. 
> 
> This is unbeta'd. Any mistakes are my own.

1.

Karrin didn’t know what woke her up at first. She blinked up at the ceiling, groggily annoyed, and—careful of her knee—rolled over to bury her face in the pillow and go back to sleep. 

Somewhere in the house, bedsprings squeaked and a strange stifled noise sounded out. Karrin huffed and rolled back over, listening as intently as her mind, still drenched in sleep, would allow.

There. Again. 

For a second, she didn’t know what it was, just scowled with confusion, and then she remembered: Harry.

Karrin had taken some painkillers before bed, so it was relatively easy to get herself upright. She grabbed the crutches that were placed within reach and started making her slow, unwieldy way out of her bedroom and down the hall. 

Harry was sleeping in her guest bedroom, as he always did when he stayed the night at her house. Which was more often now that he was basically homeless and constantly in and out of Chicago. Being the Winter Knight wasn’t exactly conducive to buying and keeping a house. 

The door was closed. Karrin hesitated for a moment outside of it, but Harry let out another gasp that she could hear through the door and she finally pushed it open.

In one glance, she could tell it was a nightmare: he was twisted up on the bed, hands clutching his chest and his eyes shut tight, still asleep but letting out strange breathless gasps. 

“Harry,” Karrin said, and he twitched. She said it again, louder. _“Harry.”_

He shifted sharply, a leg sticking out from under the blanket. 

Karrin made a fast decision and approached the bed, reaching out for Harry. She laid a hand on his shoulder carefully, not sure how he’d react. “Harry, wake up. Come on.”

The touch was what did it; Harry immediately shot up, his hands falling away to clutch at the mattress. He was panting hard, but at least he wasn’t letting out those unsettling wheezes anymore. His hair was wet with sweat. 

“Wha—“ he gasped. 

“Harry,” Karrin said, careful to speak slowly and firmly. “You’re in my house. You had a bad dream. You’re okay.”

“Karr—Karrin?” He was shivering now, his eyes still hazy with sleep as he looked at her. “Oh.”

She smiled, or at least tried to. “Hi.”

“Did I wake you up? Sorry.” Harry was clearly trying to regain his composure; he swiped a hand over his hair, pushing it away from his face. 

“I don’t mind,” Karrin said. She debated for a moment, and then said, “You okay?”

She knew it was dumb the moment it left her mouth. Of course Harry was not okay. He’d just had a nightmare, and he was still hurting bad from the events of the last few years—the whole shitshow with Maggie’s kidnapping, Susan’s death, his own death…

Harry nodded, but Karrin ignored it. She didn’t know what she was feeling as she looked at him, in his sweaty T-shirt with his legs poking out over the edge of the bed, but whatever it was, it was doing strange things to her heart. 

Another shiver shook Harry’s body, and somehow Karrin’s mind was made up before she even knew there was something to make a decision about. “Move over,” she said, and then blinked at herself.

Harry’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Move over.” Karrin wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but she was determined to follow it through now.

Harry gaped at her for another few moments; she made a shoving motion with her hand and he finally shifted over, taking the blanket with him. 

Karrin slid into the spot he’d vacated, still warm from his body heat. Harry was stiff next to her, awkward and confused, and she did her best to ignore it, instead pulling some of the blanket toward her. “Don’t hog it.”

Harry’s obnoxious chivalric instincts kicked in and he pulled more of the blanket over her. Karrin lay back and got comfortable. “Night,” she said, and made herself shut her eyes.

“Night,” Harry said, sounding shell shocked. 

Karrin lay very still. It took a while, but eventually Harry relaxed and snuggled deeper into the bed. A while after that and his breathing went even and regular. Karrin listened to it and smiled to herself.

Harry wasn’t one to ask for help. But she’d seen the tension in his body, the remnants of whatever nightmare he’d had still clouding his brain. And now he was sleeping soundly, secure with the warm body of someone he trusted right next to him.

Karrin was asleep minutes later. 

(In the morning, she’d wake up to find they’d shifted in their sleep—Harry’s back to her, and her face pressed by his spine. She moved away, hoping Harry was still asleep. But the feel of his back still lingered.)

.

2\. 

Karrin had been in recovery for a while but her knee was still a constant ache. She tried to stay off it as much as possible and did all the PT she was asked to do, but there were still too many days when the ache was just unbearable and she couldn't find a comfortable way to sit. 

Tonight was one of those times.

She started to shift to her other side, lying in the middle of the bed, but froze when her knee instantly protested. Dammit. She was exhausted, wanted nothing more than to lose herself in sleep, but her knee was obviously not with the program. She could get some heat packs from the kitchen, but that would require getting up and laboriously making her way through the house, trying to navigate in the dark with crutches and an unhappy knee...yeah, maybe not. She would just have to cope.

She’d been coping for a while when she saw the hallway light go on in the crack between her bedroom door and the floor. Heavy footsteps sounded out, slow and hesitant—like a tall man trying to be quiet but not quite able to control his overlarge body. She smiled out into the dark of her room, helplessly. “Harry?” 

The footsteps paused and a moment later, a sheepish Harry Dresden poked his head through her doorway. “Karrin. Hi. Sorry, was trying to keep it down.”

“I was already awake,” she told him. “Do me a favour?”

“Yeah, anything.”

“Could you get me some heat packs from the kitchen?”

His eyes filled with comprehension, but none of the pity that Will or Georgia or Waldo always had when they looked at her. “Knee acting up, huh.”

“Being a real bitch,” she nodded, and he snorted.

“Gimme a sec.”

She lay there and listened as he rustled about in the kitchen, opening some cabinets, turning on the tap. Finally, he reappeared back in her bedroom.

“I come bearing gifts,” he announced grandly, striding over to her bed. He set down some glasses of water onto the night table and presented the heat packs with a flourish. 

Karrin reached out for them but he pulled them back. “One sec.”

Karrin watched as he made his way over to the other side of the bed, not sure what he was playing at. She was startled when he pulled back the blanket and settled himself down beside her, but she was careful to hide it as he gently put the heat packs around her knee. 

“Comfortable?” he asked, looking up at her.

“Shift the top one over a bit—yeah. Much better. Thanks.” She relaxed back into the mattress, relishing the feeling of slow warmth soothing out the ache. A rattling sound caught her attention and she craned her head to see Harry with a glass of water in one hand and pills in the other. 

“Painkillers,” he said, holding them out. “Water.”

He watched as Karrin took both and lay back again. 

“Don’t kick me in the face,” he said, and reached out with those big, capable hands of his and began to gently massage her leg. 

She didn’t know if it was magic of some sort or if he was just good with his hands, but it felt so damn good she almost wanted to cry. Between the painkillers, the heat packs, and Harry’s hands, her knee finally fell silent and she felt more comfortable than she had in quite some time.

“You’re good at that,” she said, her voice a little slurred from drowsiness and drugs. 

“The massaging?”

“No. I mean, yeah, that, but all of it. The nursing—thing.” 

“I picked up some tricks during my own rehab,” Harry said, still gently massaging.

Karrin considered that for a moment. She knew he’d done some major rehab after he’d…come back, but he hadn’t mentioned many details. “Yeah?”

“I was in rehab for three full months. Intense rehab. And I basically had a full time PT with me. Couldn’t help but learn some stuff.” 

Karrin mulled that one over. Imagined Harry and—what was her name, Sarissa?—constantly together in close physical contact…then shook it off. Not her business and she refused to take after Lisa’s bitchy tendencies. 

“Rehab’s not fun. But I did it. Started from zero and now here I am, fine motor skills and all fully intact.” Harry’s voice was hushed. 

She blinked up at the ceiling, feeling sleep pressing down on her. “Is this a pep talk?”

“I dunno.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Depends on if you’ll punch me if it is.”

She blinked again, then yawned. “I’ll let you off this time.”

He didn’t say anything in reply, just readjusted one of the heat packs and continued to rub her leg. She noticed vaguely that he was humming something—maybe the Foo Fighters?—but she was asleep before she could fully figure it out. 

(He was still there in the morning.) 

.

3\. 

Karrin had just settled down on her couch with a bowl of ice cream and a book when someone knocked on her door. She dropped the book down on the sofa with a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. “Seriously?”

The knock came again and she grumbled as she pushed herself to her feet. 

After more than a month of intensive PT, her knee was a lot stronger, but it still wasn’t exactly pleasant to walk on. She set her bowl down on the sofa and grabbed the cane that was lying on the coffee table and made her way to the door. 

Harry was standing there when she opened it, his face shadowed with exhaustion. Karrin’s eyebrows flew up. “Harry!”

It had been almost a month since she’d last seen him—he’d been off doing Winter Knight stuff that he still wasn’t telling her much about. 

Harry smiled crookedly. “Heya, Murph. Okay if I come in?”

She hesitated for a moment. The uncertainty and danger of the supernatural situation in the city over the past few years had left her with a lingering paranoia that still reared its head, even in regards to Harry. When Harry had first come back, she hadn’t trusted him, hadn’t known how much of him was actually left. The last year had shown her that Harry, the good man she’d known for closer to two decades (god, she was getting old), was still there. He was in a bad position, with the evil of the Winter Mantle eating away at him slowly, but he was still there and still trying. 

So she stepped away from the door, and let him in. 

(She didn’t invite him in though. Better to be careful.)

In the light of her living room, Karrin realized that the shadows on his face weren’t just from exhaustion. Several large, nasty looking bruises covered one side of his face. She winced in sympathy. “Damn. What happened?”

Harry, who had immediately slumped down on the couch, looked confused. “What—oh, you mean these?” He waved a hand idly at his face. “Met an angry troll. Nothing too bad.”

Karrin tried not to look too skeptical, or worried. Harry’s definition of “nothing too bad” didn’t exactly fit the normal definition. “Still, better get some ice on it,” she said. 

“Yeah, alright,” Harry said, which was how Karrin knew he was downplaying just how much pain he was in. “Uh…could you get a couple, actually?” He shifted uncomfortably. “My ribs may have gotten a bit knocked around as well.”

Karrin bit back the comments rising up to her lips, and went to grab the ice packs.

They fell into silence after that, as Harry iced his bruises with his eyes closed and Karrin, perched on the armchair nearby, watched him. 

“Something to eat?” she asked at last. 

“Not hungry,” Harry mumbled.

Karrin frowned. 

Harry made to lie horizontally on the sofa, but paused. “Uh, I’m guessing this is yours?” He prodded the bowl of ice cream she’d left on the sofa.

“Oh, yeah,” Karrin said. “You can just put that on the table. It’s probably half melted by now.”

Harry’s arms were long enough that he didn’t have to lean too far forward to reach the table. He was smiling. “I forgot about your ice cream habit.”

“It’s not a habit,” Karrin said defensively. But it was good to see him smile.

Harry stretched himself out onto the sofa as fully as he could, which was not very—his calves hung over the arm. But he shut his eyes and melted into the cushions, looking utterly comfortable and letting out a sigh of pleasure. “I freaking love your couch.”

Karrin raised an eyebrow. 

The ice pack slipped off Harry’s face and fell to the floor. Karrin was standing before she could stop herself and had to bite her lip as her knee protested the too-fast movement. 

“I got it, it’s okay,” Harry said, picking up the ice pack and pressing it back onto his face. 

She was standing anyway, so she stepped closer to the sofa and readjusted the ice packs on his ribs. His shirt hid whatever damage he was sporting there—could be anything from bruises to fractured ribs. Maybe she’d call in Waldo to take a proper look. 

Harry let out another sigh. She made to move away from the sofa, but his hand flew out and grabbed her wrist. She glanced down at his face. His eyes were open, though drooping with exhaustion, and she could read the question in his eyes, the question he wasn’t letting himself ask. 

She debated for a moment. 

“C’mon,” Harry said softly. 

She nodded and carefully climbed onto the sofa. Harry helped her, keeping the leg with the bad knee comfortable, and she ended up squashed against the back of the sofa, stretched out basically on top of him. She pressed her cheek against his chest. His hand came up to rest on her back and began to rub slow circles down the length of her spine. 

She didn’t remember closing her eyes, but she was feeling too comfortable to open them up again, and the chest under her cheek was rising and falling steadily. She slipped into sleep. 

(She woke up with the ice packs completely melted and Harry still out of it. But she didn’t move.) 

.

+1

Karrin woke up with her nose pressed into a bony, warm back. It took her a few moments to orient herself: morning; bed; Harry. 

Harry. 

They’d been regularly sleeping together—in all senses of the phrase—for a few months now, but each night spent with him was a fresh pleasure and each morning still a wonderful surprise. 

Karrin didn’t have many good things in her life at the moment. So she savoured it, staying still, enjoying having Harry there in bed with her, his back rising and falling with his steady breaths. He smelled good, clean, with hints of strawberry from using her shampoo the night before. He’d used up all her hot water and apologized after with a guilty grimace. 

Karrin had to smile at the memory. Harry liked to pretend he was all stoic and manly and strong, but stick him under some hot water (or rub his scalp, or spoon him in bed, or give him a spectacular blowjob) and he melted like butter. 

Harry let out a sleepy murmur and shifted slightly. Karrin rolled over onto her back, away so he wouldn’t accidentally move on top of her in his sleep. He shifted again, letting out a snort of air, and then turned over to bury his face in the pillow.

He was actually waking up, then. “Good morning,” Karrin told him, trying to keep her smile out of her voice.

“Shut’p,” he mumbled, his voice husky from sleep. 

“The sun is shining and it’s a brand new day,” Karrin continued, dripping cheer. 

“Ugh,” Harry groaned. “Noooooo.”

“Up and at ‘em, sunshine!” 

“I’ll pay you actual money to stop,” Harry said, but his voice was clearer now and he was putting actual sentences together so Karrin knew he was close to being fully awake. 

She leaned over to prop her chin on his shoulder, letting her eyes slip closed again.

Outside this quiet room, there were the Fomor, Outsiders, Mab. But right now, it was just her and Harry, in her warm bed, with the morning sun shining through her blinds, and that was all she needed for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback is very much appreciated :) 
> 
> Talk Dresden Files at me on [tumblr](http://moosetifying.tumblr.com/)!


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